John Child began playing volleyball at the age of 16 and made his first international appearance in 1991, with partner Ed Drakich. He did not reach the podium at any event, however, until teaming up with Mark Heese for the 1995 season, which the duo completed with a ranking of 11th. They had their first win in 1996 and, later that month, attended the Summer Olympics, where beach volleyball was being contested for the first time. After reaching the quarter-finals, Heese and Child bested Javier Bosma and Sixto Jiménez of Spain and advanced to the semi-finals, where they were defeated by eventual gold medalists Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes of the United States. The Canadians then won the bronze medal match against Miguel Maia and João Brenha of Portugal, giving Canada, as of 2012, its only medal in the sport.
Child and Heese were ranked 15th overall over the next three seasons and returned to compete for Canada at the 2000 Summer Olympics, where they were eliminated in the eighth-finals by Zé Marco and Ricardo of Brazil, the upcoming silver medalists, and finished joint-fifth overall. They had the same result at the 2004 edition, after being defeated by Bosma and Pablo Herrera of Spain, the eventual runners-up, in the quarter-finals. After the Games, Child played in only three more international events prior to his 2006 retirement and has since worked as a coach for the sport in his native Ontario.
Canada